


The Forgotten

by fhsa_archivist



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-08
Updated: 2005-11-08
Packaged: 2019-02-05 14:53:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12796794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhsa_archivist/pseuds/fhsa_archivist
Summary: My version of what became of Zeke and Gina from NIC





	The Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Haven, the archivist: This story was originally archived at [Fandom Haven Story Archive (FHSA)](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_Haven_Story_Archive), was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2016. To preserve the archive, I began working with the OTW to transfer the stories to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. If you are this creator and the work hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Fandom Haven Story Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fhsa/profile).

Gina felt the cab slow, and her nostrils flared, scenting the odd mixture of vampire, shifter, and popcorn that was being pulled in through the air conditioning vents. _Guess we’re here_ , she thought as she opened her eyes. Her hand had been rhythmically tapping the bottle of Jack Daniels in her lap, and she abruptly stilled that nervous gesture.

 

A bizarre scene greeted her. She was right, they had arrived, and even though she had been there countless times, she flinched at the sight of the bright lights and garish fanged clowns decorating the entrance to the Circus of the Damned. She just flat loathed clowns, they had terrified her as a youngster, and ones with creepy vampire fangs made her want to run and hide under her bed covers. But Zeke was permanently ensconced here, and if she wanted to visit him, she had to ignore her childhood fears and come to this dysfunctional carnival. 

 

Her chest rose and fell as she took a deep, calming breath. “Take me around to the back employee’s entrance,” she softly instructed her suddenly silent cab driver.

 

“Jesus, lady, you sure?” he frowned, disapproval obvious on his face.

 

Gina sighed dramatically. “Just do it, OK? Please?”

 

She saw the young man grimace and give an elaborate shrug of his shoulders in the rear view mirror. Christ, why was nothing simple in her life? She had sensed his reluctance when she had told him to go to Circus of the Damned, and he now looked even less pleased to actually have to drop her off further in. She could see the accusation in his eyes, the disappointment, as he suddenly clamped his lips tight in a mixture of anger and disgust. She turned her head to the side to avoid seeing his face, knowing exactly what he was thinking; _Damn, just another freak fucker. Why are all the good looking ones just blood whores?_

 

Well, screw him. It wasn’t liked she’d led him on. Gina knew she was attractive, her pale, waiflike features accentuated by dark, almost black hair. When the kid had seen her flagging down a cab, he’d practically run over two other fares to get to her. Granted, he was a good looking guy, but he also had a good looking guy’s excessive confidence in himself. Her butt had no sooner kissed the scarred vinyl seat when the wannabe lothario had immediately tried to charm her with his wit and smile. 

 

Gina smirked just a little as she recalled how his demeanor had cooled ever so slightly when he heard her requested destination. But he was young and brash, and had rallied his spirits and chattered at her the whole ride there. 

 

God, the enthusiasm of naïve youth. She had just closed her eyes and let him drone on, too saddened and tense about her upcoming visit to do much else. At least pretending to listen to his life history was a diversion. Like all cabbies, this was a “temporary” job. He was writing the next great American novel, a tome to rival Dan Brown’s _The Da Vinci Code_ , and he animatedly told she would one day be regaling her friends with the tale of how the great Andrew Avondale had been her cab driver that hot August night. Gina had briefly entertained the thought of letting the beast slip a little, just so young Andrew would have a tale of his own to tell his drinking buddies, but she didn’t have the time or control that evening. 

 

She began gathering her things as the car quickly pulled up to the locked back entrance. The parking lot was full, which wasn’t unexpected at that time of day. Most of the vampires were comatose, but that wouldn’t last much longer. It was going to be a busy night at the clubs for the vamps; all of the shifter employees were going to be otherwise occupied that full moon evening. Any bloodsucker who was good looking enough to strip was going to have to strut their stuff for the hormonal throng that night. 

 

The blond man slammed his gear shift into park, and turned the meter off. Gina could practically taste the anger and testosterone off the man. “$12.85”, he said curtly, refusing to even look at her.

 

She stiffened, and then just sagged at his tone. She thought about ripping him for his disrespectful attitude. She thought about not tipping him. Instead she did neither, simply murmuring her thanks as she slipped him a twenty and told him to keep the change. She wasn’t a dominant, not even to humans, and she needed her strength for the coming visit. She was surprised to hear a “Thank you, Miss,” before he spun his tires in the gravel and sped away. At least the boy remembered _some_ of the manners his mama taught him.

 

_To hell with simple_ , she thought as she rummaged in her purse for the key Jean-Claude had given her; _why couldn’t things be smooth?_ It was late afternoon, around 6:00pm, and she increased her pace to a jog as she made her way to the rear entrance of the Circus of the Damned. She had a lot to do before moonrise. The Blooddrinkers clan was meeting at the Lupanar that steamy August sunset, running with the wolves that night to reaffirm the alliance they had, an alliance made by treaty, friendship, and vampire marks. In truth, an alliance made by Anita, and her position as Lupa and Bolverk of the Thronnos Rokke clan, and Nimir-Ra to her leopards.

 

But before she could join her people, there was an obligation she needed to fulfill. A set date with Zeke. 

 

Shouldering her bag, she unlocked the door, and entered the stronghold of the vampires and their minions. Most people found the stairway intimidating, but her long legs and six foot frame easily traversed the abnormally wide stone steps of the building. The descent was familiar to her; after the defeat of Chimera, The Master of the City had offered his home as a sanctuary to Zeke, and had taken him in as one of his wolves. She had lived here, briefly, with the deformed werewolf. She couldn’t help the tightening in her chest or her hitched breath as she thought of Zeke. She loved him, pure and simple, and had never cared that he had been trapped permanently in half wolf form by that psychotic bastard King. Like Micah, he had done his level best to be a protector, a mediator between all of Orlando’s slaves and their sadistic master. Zeke had looked after her in particular, because even though she was leopard and he wolf, he had grown to deeply love her. And she returned that love as well. She was abused and afraid, and so very alone. The kindness and affection he gave her kept her sane and alive through those terrible, awful times. 

 

But all Zeke and Micah could do was play a delaying game. Until they came to St. Louis, and met the Executioner. It had been Anita who had saved them, who had been strong enough to drain the soul from the man and free them all. It had been a horrific battle at Narcissus in Chains, but damn, it had been a hell of a party afterwards as well. At least for most of them. 

 

She paused halfway down the steps, as she almost invariably did each visit, remembering the sad decline of her wolf. Zeke changed after Chimera had died, as though having no one to protect had taken his sole purpose in life away. He had tried to fit in and create a normal life for himself. He had even gone to a lupanar gathering with the St. Louis pack, but the looks of pity and revulsion Richard’s wolves had given him made him slink away in shame. The Ulfric had been furious, upbraiding his people for their callousness.

 

_“You DARE to insult an Alpha I accepted into this clan? I am Ulfric here, and I will not tolerate your cold insubordination to that man!”_

 

It had been a kingly gesture, but the damage had been done, and Zeke had retreated into himself. It was the first and last time he had made overtures to the local werewolves.

 

And so began Zeke’s descent into depression and despair. His morose disposition had not gone unnoticed by Jean-Claude, and the master vampire had conferred with both of his Trimates to try to come up with a cure for his wolf’s unhappy existence. It was Richard who proposed the potential solution of a forced shift. Powerful Alphas could accomplish such a change from one form to another. Richard had done it to Stephen and Jason. Anita had done it to Gregory. Maybe, just maybe, they could do the same to one trapped in limbo like Zeke was.

 

A tear slid down her cheek as she remembered with shame the battle she had with him, to get him to agree to submit to the shift.

 

_“What the hell is wrong with you? Why won’t you let them try, Zeke? Don’t you want to be norm…” Gina trailed off, realizing what she was about to say. How hurtful is would seem._

_Zeke’s muzzle pealed back in a snarl, and his oh so human eyes sparked in anger. “Normal, Gina? Is that what you were about to tell me? And when it doesn’t work, will you reject me as well? When push comes to shove, Gina, will you to decide I’m too uncomfortable to be around and fade away? Will you, too, run off to your ‘normal’ existence and leave me to my ‘abnormal’ life?”_

 

In the end, he had agreed, to please her more than anything else. First Richard, then Anita had attempted to force his body back to human. It was to no avail, though. The process simply couldn’t work for one trapped in limbo as Zeke was. The bones and flesh of his body were permanently formed between animals, and would only grow more to the wolf with each additional shift he did. His humanity would inexorably erode as the years passed, and no one knew what would happen to a person who went totally over to the wolf. Nothing of the sort had ever happened in the lore of the weres. 

 

Gina wiped the tears from her face and continued her decent. Zeke was down there, and she always had to prepare herself for these visits. Perhaps she could get through this one without pain, without feeling totally bereft. She doubted it though; there was too many hurtful memories in their past for anything else. She recalled his reaction to the three most powerful preternatural’s failure to “cure” him. For all his belief that it had been a wasted endeavor, he had allowed himself to dream. And when his hopes were dashed, he took the failure hard, becoming uncharacteristically violent, destroying everything around him in his anguish and fury. More frightening than the destruction, though, was they way he had gone cold after. Icy. Dispassionate and withdrawn, isolating himself against all of them, except for Gina. He stopped making love to her, because he couldn’t stand to be touched intimately by anyone, but he couldn’t stop loving her. She was the only one, other than Jean-Claude, he would allow to visit him in the bowels of the circus. 

 

But even that that relationship didn’t last. He had inevitably turned on her, bitter and jealous of his scarred existence and Gina’s healed body. She had been dubious, but Dr. Lillian had convinced her to check into the shifter hospital to heal her brands. The elderly wererat had carefully cut away the puckered burns on her back, so that she could shift and heal the newly created wounds. The grey haired woman was a gentle physician, completing the process over several days so that the general anesthesia she used would not be metabolized into Gina’s body before she could shift. It was relatively painless, and the results were astounding. She was whole again, at least in body, and was once again building a portfolio for modeling work. Her ethereal, haunted features were almost heroin-addiction like in look, and very much in demand in the designer ranks of today. She knew she could make a go of it in New York, but she wasn’t about to leave the safety and home of St. Louis. She wasn’t about to leave Zeke.

 

She started the slow walk down the shadowy corridor, depressed by what she knew was at the end and lost in the sad memories of the past. Engrossed in her thoughts, she never noticed another presence in the hallway. She started and gasped when she heard a soft voice in the darkness.

 

“I admire your sense of duty, Mademoiselle. You never fail to visit”, Jean-Claude whispered as he approached her out of the darkness. He had two glasses in his hand, which he held out to her. 

 

“You still visit him as well, Jean-Claude?” she inquired, taking the glasses from his proffered hand. She had wondered who had left clean glasses for her every month. The Master of the City had not been on her list of suspects.

 

“Oui, Cher, it is my penance,” he sighed, glancing at the black door at the end of the corridor. “It is a wonderful thing, the bond between a Master Vampire and their animal to call. A mutual desire to touch. A mutual obligation to protect and to serve. And unfortunately, a duty I feel I failed to fulfill with Monsieur Zeke.”

 

He turned his intense gaze back to her. His sapphire blue eyes sparkled with intensity. “But that is my responsibility. When will you allow yourself to go forward, to leave the past behind? When will you allow yourself the delight of an unfettered future?”

 

She couldn’t meet his eyes. God, she wanted to move on with her life, but the guilt. The guilt. She couldn’t live with herself.

 

“I can’t,” she whispered. Damn it, why couldn’t the bastard have just left her to her routine? “I can’t leave him, just…forgotten like that.”

 

Jean-Claude glided up to her, gently encircling the distraught were in his arms, and leaning in to whisper in her ear.

 

“Do you think he would wish this on you? Another form of entrapment, of slavery?” he questioned, his breath soft and comforting on her cheek. “It is arrogance, I think, that you believe you are the only one who hasn’t forgotten him. Do you not believe that everyone he touched and helped in his life remembers him? Do you think you the only one he protected from torture and fear?”

 

She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry this visit, but suddenly the tears were pouring unchecked from her eyes.

 

Jean-Claude cupped her face in his palm, and tenderly wiped away her tears. “Say your goodbyes, and go on with your life. Meet another to love. Build a career. Be happy. Zeke chose his path. Choose another,” he lectured, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips, before gliding silently away up the staircase.

 

Gina stared in silence after the vampire, then hung her head and made her way to Zeke’s door. Wiping her tears, she straightened and went inside.

 

“Hi, Zeke. I’m back,” she whispered, making her way to the mausoleum that housed her heart’s love. The room was pristine, but she expected it to be so. The Master may not have been able to help Zeke in life, but he amply provided for him in his death. No mortician would touch Zeke’s corpse, caught in wolf form as he was. And since he ended his own life with a silver bullet to his head, no Catholic cemetery would accept him for burial. So he stayed for all eternity at the Circus, provided for and respected in death by the vampires of the city.

 

She poured two shots of Jack Daniels, placing one in the slot normally used for flowers, and downing the second. “I’m sorry, my love, but I have to move on. To victory, and to our futures, Zeke. I hope God granted you the mercy and peace that life on Earth denied you.” 

 

She laid a kiss on the cold marble, and turned and walked away.


End file.
